Forever Bound
by grunty07
Summary: They stand on the threshold of life, waiting to be liberated. However, not all things can be ended by Death alone...NejiTen, Team Gai. Ninja world AU. Warnings inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
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**Summary: They stand on the threshold of life, waiting to be liberated. However, not all things can be ended by Death alone...  
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**Rated for: blood, gore, a suggestive situation, and character death.**

**Note: Yes, this is a two-shot. Also, it is a highly symbolic and thematic story (with romance), partly inspired by **_**For Whom the Bell Tolls **_**by Ernest Hemingway and _Of Mice and Men _by John Steinbeck, as well as a few other things. I wrote this not as a tragedy but as a triumph in the sense that, even in the face of death, Team Gai will continue to persevere as is their nature.**

**This was produced from a challenge that I had posed for myself (and a couple of other authors) to include the theme of a "Tree of Life". And indeed, Team Gai is unified by a quality (or state of mind/being) that they all share(d).**

**I somehow incorporated a great deal of oxymorons.  
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**Don't like, don't read. Otherwise, enjoy!  
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><p><strong><strong>Forever Bound<strong>**

**Part 1_  
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_When you go free, nothing makes you happier. _

_When you hurt someone you care about, nothing can hurt more..._

– Sophocles, _Antigone_

Neji felt the warm, earthy wind of summer blow against him as his team stopped.

"It is a beautiful day! Don't you agree?" Rock Lee cried and jumped as high as his legs would take him. He skipped out the gates of the village with a greatly evident happiness. Any passerby would think he was going on vacation, instead of a mission to wipe out a renegade bandit camp in the Land of Wind.

Sighing, Tenten, the weapons mistress of Konoha, shouldered her pack of provisions and trotted along restlessly. Neji walked patiently beside her. They were both used to their teammate's antics.

Lee turned back and shouted, "Hurry, and do not let your youth get away!"

Snorting, Tenten said to him, "It's just a typical B-rank mission." Then she muttered quietly to her other comrade, "What's up with him? He's usually not as crazy when Gai-sensei isn't around." Neji just shrugged stiffly in response.

Growing impatient, Lee jogged back to them and tugged on their wrists. Tenten protested in curiosity rather than annoyance, "Why are you rushing us, Lee? We just got back from an S-rank mission yesterday."

"We have to continue to grow stronger and build our endurance!" He faltered when it was evident she did not believe this excuse was the entire reason, for she raised an eyebrow warily. "Okay, well," Lee said in a tone of confession and scratched his neck. "Seeing Naruto-kun and Sakura-san trying to save Gaara-kun as well as Chiyo-sama's courageous deed inspired me to work harder, so that I may also save the ones I care about!" He flashed her a bright grin.

Then, slowing down, he continued, "As you well know, I am an orphan. You two and Gai-sensei are all the family I have. I vow to protect Team Gai with all my heart, or I will run two hundred laps around the village! With double the weights!" Lee promised rather loudly, drawing a wary glance from the guard at Konoha's gate. "And if I cannot do that, I will...I will...do four hundred push-ups!"

Neji nodded in acknowledgement of the Green Beast's good intention, though his way of going about it was silly, as usual. Tenten gave her enthusiastic teammate a half-smile, but a troubled aura emanated from her. "Let's just go," she muttered and leaped into the canopy, weapons in her pack clinking with the action.

Lee was close behind, exclaiming about her rejuvenated spirit, and Neji followed in the back.

When night fell, they were only about a day and a half's journey away from the Land of Wind due to their renowned speed. Settling in after eating some of the rations, Neji elected to take first watch.

Leaning back against the thick trunk of a pine, he lifted his gaze towards the heavens. The ethereal moon cast an eerie silver light on the clouds, which were few and far between. When it was not obscured by the clouds, it illuminated his surroundings in the forest. An owl hooted nearby.

Like Shikamaru, the Hyuuga prodigy enjoyed sitting and observing the Earth, finding appreciation in the stars and the endless blue skies. Whilst the human world bustled with superficiality, he found serenity in the extraordinarily pure flow of Nature around him. Chaos was the bane of his existence, while simplicity was the blessing of it.

After hearing Lee promptly fall asleep and Tenten squirming restlessly, he snapped out of his relaxed trance. He watched her readjust her body to rest comfortably against the tree, then he exhaled briefly and made his way over to her. "Is everything alright?" he inquired, sitting down next to her. Spending time with her had always been a breath of fresh air that blew away his troubles in the midst of his hectic daily life in the village.

Tenten turned to face him and, after a moment, opened her eyes. Rather than clashing, deep amber melted into pale silver. Now, after four years, they were both adapted to the eye contact that had been intimidating and delicately shied away from at first.

She teased, "Just checking to see if your team is functioning at full capacity?" When he blinked slowly, unamused, she smiled uneasily. "Sorry. I guess you're not in the mood."

"It's fine, but you didn't answer my question," he replied curtly.

Tenten laughed and scooted closer to him. Leaves rustled in the biting wind that smelled of pine. "I was just...um, reflecting," she said vaguely, even though she knew he would want a more detailed explanation anyway.

"On?" He often used one-worded answers, but the prompting was always obvious to her.

"The past few years. My destination as a kunoichi," she answered in disjointed phrases. "I'm nothing like Tsunade-sama. I am not skilled in healing, nor can I summon slugs. I realized that I should not emulate her; instead, I will become a kunoichi with my own name. I will not be known as a second Tsunade, but instead as_ Tenten _of Konoha." She brushed away a branch of pine needles that had fallen ungracefully onto her shoulder.

Neji listened in detachment, but maintained a certain degree of interest. Her plans for the future seemed to change ever so slightly every time she related them to him, yet they had developed greatly from when she had been a genin. Her confiding in him never bothered either of them. He admired yet envied her spirit more than anything; his own, generic goals (for example, being selected to become ANBU - what shinobi did not wish for that?) seemed greatly meaningless in comparison to hers. Her dream was simple yet profound.

"I...well, I became something out of nothing, thanks to this team. Like Lee, I don't have a real family. I didn't have anything or anyone to depend on. I grew up alone, under the supervision of the Sandaime and various Jounin who never stayed long enough for me to become attached to them. But..." She trailed off uncomfortably.

A sudden wave of a familiar emotion washed over Neji, even as he heard these words for the umpteenth time. _There's a certain fragility to her that I can never place...that I always feel the need to protect_. "You, Lee, and Gai all have that in common," he spoke, however, without inflection.

_No, that's just it. She's insecure because of her childhood. _He felt his throat constrict._  
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"Yes, but _you_–"

"I was just as isolated as you three were," he cut her off in an abrupt tone that belied the intention of his words. She knew his manner of saying things was not always meant to emphasize his words. "I had the heritage, but...you know what I was like back then," he muttered thickly. "I may seem to be different from you, but we are all essentially the same."

Tenten smiled angelically and shied away from his intense, yet somehow gentle, gaze. She had never felt at ease discussing intellectual, deep topics. "Well, thanks to you guys, I'm a lot closer to my goal now."

He nodded, allowing her to relax even as she looked back at him. "A dream always seems far off, but it's just waiting to become a reality." Since Tenten was the closest thing that could ever come to being called his friend, he genuinely hoped that she would be successful.

She smiled widely at him. "Of course. I'm going to sleep now," she said, ending the conversation abruptly. She leaned closer, brushing her nose ever so slightly against his cheek. She smelled like the smoke from the fire. The ephemeral, fleeting contact caused something akin to flames to burn throughout his body. He wondered why she didn't simply peck him on the cheek as she occasionally would, but he knew that the platonic action meant she appreciated his presence nevertheless.

"Good night," he said quietly as she leaned back and closed her eyes. He watched as the ashes from the fire were blown away by the wind, and resumed reveling in the beauty that adorned the nature around him.

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><p>The end of the second day found them near the edge of the forest. Lee wished to go on further, protesting that they could reach the dunes by nightfall. Tenten told him gently that the action would be strategically foolish, and he relented.<p>

After finding a suitable clearing to make camp, Neji sent Lee off to retrieve twigs for a fire. "There's a stream a kilometer to the southeast. I'll be back soon," he assured Tenten and left for said stream.

Flying through the canopy at a remarkable pace, Neji halted next to the river a few minutes later. A snake made its way along the banks, and the sunset bathed the scene with a warm glow. A flowering dogwood stood near the edge of the pool, and sycamores dotted the other side.

He bent down to refill his team's water bottles, tensing a bit when some leaves crackled to his left – he had not detected any foreign chakra signatures within his Byakugan's radius. He relaxed when a white bird fluttered through the trees towards him harmlessly. However, its wing got caught in the branches, and it let out a small squawk.

_A messenger bird_, Neji registered as he took in the small note attached to its leg and the Konohagakure brand on its underside. He got up with the bottles and liberated the bird from the tree's impeding branches. Untying the strip of paper, he set the creature gently down.

It was a letter from the Hokage. _The bandits have relocated their camp to a place north of their previous location_, he read. _However, you may want to take a look around the abandoned area if you want pointers_. Her signature was tiny, in flowing script at the bottom but slightly smeared. Neji took a glance at the white bird, which pecked at seemingly nothing on the ground.

"I guess it wasn't trained to return to sender."

Neji looked up, unsurprised to see Tenten appear in front of him. She picked the animal up with a gentle but firm grip as it stared at her curiously. Then, she looked at Neji carefully. "This is a nice place to rest," she stated offhandedly, referring to the clearing by the stream. She didn't ask about the message, knowing he would rather explain it to both Lee and herself at the same time.

"I don't think we'll be able to find a place this serene again," Neji agreed. "Let's return to camp."

Tenten inclined her head, holding the bird tenderly. They leaped into the canopy together.

By the time they got back, Lee had already kindled the fire. Ever the curious one, he gestured at the bird and asked immediately, "Is that a messenger?"

"Yes," Neji replied as he dropped off their water bottles. "The bandits moved their camp. But I'm planning to travel to the old location first to see if there's anything left that we can utilize."

Lee then inquired, "When can we arrive there?"

"Early afternoon tomorrow, if the first location Tsunade-sama gave us is correct," Tenten answered as she absentmindedly stroked the snowy white bird.

Lee nearly jumped in excitement at the prospect of having action the next day. "Okay! I'll take first watch tonight." Two nods of affirmation met his gaze. "And what do we do with the messenger?"

They all turned to the bird, which remained silent and unaffected by the attention, even emanating a rather haughty aura, as if their lives depended on the message he carried – a far cry from most other messengers that they received. Tenten lowered it to the ground and said, "Give it some of the rations for now. It's free to go if it wants to."

The Green Beast saluted with a grin and ran to get their packs. The evening droned on softly as they took a respite.

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><p>Tenten had calculated correctly: they arrived at the desolate camp, hidden in the valleys of the dunes, sometime after noon the next day. It was quiet, with only the gust of the sandy wind audible. A whinny from a horse cut through the air, the only sign of life other than themselves and the white messenger bird that had not yet flown away.<p>

"Lee and I will go search for anything that could be useful. Documents, stragglers, or weapons, for example," Neji directed towards Lee, who nodded. "Tenten, go check on that horse."

"Roger," the other two affirmed. They split up to complete their tasks, Lee electing to bring the bird with him.

Tenten trotted quietly to where the horse's cry had sounded. Chained and standing in an open pen, it whinnied again as she came near, stomping the sand and rattling the chains nervously. "Good horse," she whispered, reaching a hand out to gently pat its mane. It snorted softly, seeming to find some temporary sanctuary. It was a beautiful white stallion. Rare around these parts, Tenten thought to herself.

Inspecting it for wounds, she came across a deep gash, conspicuous and bold against its white flank, which prevented it from moving too much. The cut was not a major wound, but the horse had already lost a lot of blood. The bandits must have left it here after it was injured, Tenten concluded. She then looked at the now dead grass that littered the ground. And a lack of food, she added mentally.

"Tenten," Neji's voice called softly from the dirt road. She looked up as he approached. Silver melted into amber. "Hey. Can you come check this out?"

He nodded when he arrived and bent down to examine the gash. The horse jerked, whinnying again and rattling the chains when he ran a finger gently down its side. Then the Hyuuga prodigy straightened and said over the pained noises and thrashing, "It's no good. We can't spare the bindings, and it's already near death."

Putting a hand on the horse and gazing at the injury again, she said absently, "Then – what do we do?" The horse let out a snort and stopped jerking.

When no reply was forthcoming, she looked up and saw him staring at her in – what _seemed_ like, but probably wasn't – wonder. He mentally shook himself and said thickly, "I guess we have to put it down." _How did she calm it down so effortlessly?_

Her eyes (which he often thought were truly windows to her soul) became shrouded and closed to deciphering by him. They were at once fathomless depths which saw nothing but knew everything. A silent wraith, she backed away from the horse. Putting her discomfort out of his mind for now, he activated his Byakugan, anticipating the horse thrashing again. It didn't, and he located the particular tenketsu he needed to seal, knowing what he had to do. _But is it right?_

What he didn't expect was for Tenten to speak as he bent down. "Hurry up, Neji. I would want to be put out of my misery too," she said quietly and placed a hand on the back of his neck, causing him to tense with the contact. Her fingers were icy despite the warm air around them, and they sent shivers down Neji's spine.

Ignoring her hand, he put two fingers against the tenketsu point and pushed chakra through as rapidly as he could. The horse let out a small whinny and jerked violently, desperately, before finally falling to the ground with a rattle of chains. He barely noticed Tenten retracting her hand during the ordeal.

Neji got up and took a step towards Tenten. He saw her distraught expression, his throat closed up, and suddenly he was embracing her before his conscience could succeed in telling him otherwise, as it had all those times before.

He held her tight against him, protecting her fragility, and time stopped for a moment even as thoughts whirled through his head of her scent that smelled of trees, pine, soil, and everything earthy – an endless, compassionate, gracious moment at the end of nowhere, and he could feel the end never coming as there would never be a beginning and oh _god_, he loved her, had always loved her, and that moment served as both the end to an endless circle of doubts and the beginning of a new one and none of it mattered because they were there, still are there, lost, together, disjointed, united, separated, in what others call isolation but what they call loneliness.

Neji pulled back, his brain struggling to function again, and placed a hand on her cheek even as he tried to slow the palpitation of his heart. Trying to memorize every feature and every plane, his fingers gently, tenderly, traced her cheeks, her nose, along her eyes – no, yes, just the eyes, and not the emptiness that lies within them, because that would never be what he had associated and would associate with her in what future he had after this – and her chin, her jaw, her lips, everything.

Then, suddenly, she grabbed the hand that was on her face, and she quietly threaded her fingers through his. But her eyes were still empty and forlorn, and he despised it but loved it at the same time because it was her, and also because it wasn't.

As she pulled away completely, time slowly started again and he understood why she did so a second later. "Neji-kun! Tenten!" Lee cried as he bounded up the road and accidentally stepped on the chains, which rattled again. "I found a – oh, er, um..." he sobered up as he registered the dead horse at their feet.

"Don't worry about it, Lee. It had to be done," Tenten spoke without inflection. "What did you find?"

"A blueprint of their other hideout. It also tells us exactly where guards are posted." Lee grinned, immediately regaining his usual happiness in the midst of tension. "We are very lucky to have come across it! Now we can devise a battle strategy."

Neji nodded, half-hearing what he had said. He forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand and accepted the map that was held out to him. He studied it for a long time. Then, he finally said, "It's mapped out to be on a mountain, as indicated by the jagged edges of the clearing."

Lee's eyes widened and he looked around, gesturing at the flat, endless desert around them. Neji responded to his questioning gaze, "Tsunade-sama told us it would be to the north. The direction should be correct, as there are more mountains near the border of the Land of Earth. We'll travel that way for now."

The other two followed as he made his way to the edge of the desolate bandit camp, Lee still holding the white bird. The dry desert wind continued to blow.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Most of the rating and the warnings apply to this chapter.**

**Additional warning: Lime is not my forte.**

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><p><strong>Forever Bound<br>**

**Part 2**

_What good is it to kill the dead again?_

– Sophocles, _Antigone_

When night fell, they made camp in the middle of the endless dunes. After making sure Lee was sound asleep, Neji stood and went over to Tenten, who had elected to take first watch.

He knelt to be on eye level with her. Deep amber burned into cool silver. Her gaze was conveying the message of, _You don't have to say anything to prove it. I know._

Knowing he had nothing to lose, he placed his hands on her waist to steady himself. After a moment of hesitation, he moved between her legs and brushed his lips against hers briefly. She kissed back. His hand rose, and his fingers undid the knot that kept her buns up. She did not protest. Her long, luscious brown hair cascaded down her back and he was kissing her again whilst threading his fingers through hair that felt akin to silk.

It was like water, he decided, as he traced her lips tenderly with his tongue. Every strand of her hair slipped through his fingers like water, and those miniscule grains of sand could be the salt. Able to be felt and held, but some would always slip through one way or another... _Just like her_, he added subconsciously – and oh _god_, were those her fingers running up and down his inner thigh?

His lips moved down, and soon he was breathing harshly into the hollow of her neck as those nimble fingers – he was really lucky to have a weapons expert on his team – journeyed higher. His subsequent moan was muffled by her neck when her fingers tightened around his bulge.

He lifted his head and pressed his lips insistently against hers, trying and failing to stifle a moan into her mouth as he felt her fingers suddenly tightening again while exploring that section of his body through his clothes. Her tender lips moved in accordance with his (as if they had practiced this all their life), but within him, he felt that it was wrong... No, there was nothing inside him. Nothing could not be wrong. There was just an empty, hollow feeling because somehow this wasn't the same Tenten.

Wishing to voice this concern, he pulled a centimeter away briefly and started, "I–"

"It had to be done." Tenten repeated her words from the afternoon and quietly placed a finger against his lips, effectively silencing him before he could say any more. The fingers had stopped and were now resting on the sand beside her hip. The other hand that had wandered behind him during their intimate moment stroked his back comfortingly, almost absentmindedly. "Go to sleep, Neji."

He was still breathing heavily, but, much to his dismay, the cool night air along with her words and serious tone of voice had quickly eased his lust. He was disappointed, but it was hardly the ideal time anyway, what with their teammate (somehow) still blissfully asleep and unaware along with the troublesome, sandy floor Mother Nature had provided them with. The years he had put into training his self-restraint came to use.

The morning came quietly with a crisp, biting cold that was characteristic of the desert. Tenten had dozed off during her watch, but no enemies had bothered them anyway. They collected their provisions, along with the white bird, and forged onward in an unusual silence

Before noon, a dark speck loomed in front of them. Lee finally spoke the first words of the morning. "Is that the mountain?"

Neji replied curtly, "Quite possibly." Then they were silent, darting through the receding dunes. Slowly, gradually, the sand was replaced by dirt, the pine smell returned, and the day became darker. They arrived at the base of the mountain soon after. Using his doujutsu, Neji could see the faint chakra signatures near the summit, and the camp was just as the blueprint had portrayed it to be.

He motioned to Lee. "Leave the bird. It will be a liability, and it will not do well up there." He then gestured toward the mountain.

Lee obliged, saying a few parting words to the animal. The bird hopped around a bit and chirped while Tenten looked longingly up the slope.

"Ready?" Neji asked. He wasn't sure if he was even ready himself. The Green Beast grinned and punched the air, dispelling some of the tension with his usual enthusiasm. "Yes! Let us go."

They began the ascent, clambering up the steep path through the rocks. The air became chilly and, after half an hour of climbing, wet, sloshy snow dominated the ground. "It's rare to see snow in the summer," Lee commented. "Perhaps not up in the mountains, though. I wonder if any other poor soul lives up here? I do not think so." He began a chain of asking and answering his own questions.

Other than Lee's rambling, the air was eerily quiet. The gust of wind was prominent in their ears, except for a moment in which Neji thought he could hear the flapping of wings. He shook himself mentally – he needed to focus on the task at hand.

Lee stopped talking when the temperature suddenly dropped. A chill ran through Neji. He felt Tenten grasp his hand and hold it tightly as they soared the rest of the way up the mountain. A spark of relief awakened within him at the motion, and another chill, this time of warmth, ignited his senses and electrified his body like a bolt of lightning. Suddenly, he felt a deep, profound love for her. They had been with each other through thick and thin; distrust of teammates had never been an option, but both proved worthy of receiving the other's faith. _Is it possible for me to live without you?_ Neji wondered absently.

But he could not dwell on that passionate feeling for long, as the path started winding and they were soon darting along steep switchbacks. They had to traverse carefully so as not to slip on the ice.

They arrived just below the summit an hour later. Tenten squeezed his hand once and finally let it go. Lee came up behind them with his teeth chattering. None of them had had the option of warmer clothing, after all.

"What's the plan?" Tenten asked over the howling wind.

"There isn't much of one." Neji scanned the area with his Byakugan. The guards were positioned in the same locations as on the map. "Tsunade-sama didn't give us any additional information about them, so I'm assuming they're just regular bandits. We'll just have to surprise them as best as we can and take them out. Don't make too much of a disturbance, as we are not authorized to complete our mission in the Land of Earth."

"Assumptions are d-dangerous," Lee chattered, at which Neji nodded solemnly. "Be careful, you two." He glanced pointedly at both of them. "I will take the right flank. Lee will cut through the middle with his speed. Tenten, you can cover us from the left with your range," he explained.

Lee's head bobbed up and down rapidly. "Simple enough! Shall we go? I need to warm up with some action."

"Ready?" Neji glanced at Tenten. She tightened her fingertip-less gloves and replied, "I'll never be readier."

He nodded again. "Leave your packs here. We'll come back to retrieve them later."

The other two obliged and, together, they made their way to the top.

They took their assigned positions effortlessly. Lee was in the middle, darting behind one of the sturdier-looking tents. Neji and Tenten lurked in the shadows on both sides, waiting to spring like hunters. The camp consisted of several tents around the perimeter of a courtyard. A heavy mist settled on the area. _There are several bandits present, but the purge shouldn't take long_, Neji thought. _The mist will help us surprise them, but it will give them more cover from Tenten._

He glanced at both of his teammates, knowing they would come to the same conclusion. He waited until they made eye contact and gave the affirmative. Tenten would lead the offensive, as usual, with her Soshoryu, and the other two would leap in to finish off the rest with backup.

Having already gotten a thumbs-up from Lee, Neji gazed at Tenten quietly, waiting for her to signal. She had taken out a green and yellow scroll. Then she looked up at him, amber melting into silver. She nodded.

Her chakra suddenly flared up in preparation for the technique. Neji could feel his own eyes sharpen in concentration, as a hawk's would and how they always did before a battle. Lee bristled like an angry cat.

Then the weapons – kunai, shuriken, senbon, scythe, katana, naginata, chains, and the like – were flying all over the courtyard. He could hear the alarmed guards shouting to one another and the sickening squelch of a katana stabbing through the guard with the green coat across the field. The man fell to the ground, lying prone and still.

The Hyuuga had questioned the morals of taking another man's life before, and this was no different. He felt a chill, as he always did. But he couldn't deny that killing awakened a feral savageness with him – an animalistic hunger. He wasn't sure if he enjoyed the feeling or not.

Lee sprang into action a second later, scurrying around the tent he was positioned behind and knocking out one of the renegades who had appeared. Neji himself flew out of cover to take out another bandit. In his peripheral vision, he spotted an archer in one of the trees. But he knew the others would be careful.

Faintly, he heard a gruff voice shout, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" _Summoning_, he registered in the back of his head. _No matter._ He kicked another renegade in the gut and closed several of his tenketsu while he was down. The man screamed as his chakra flow was disrupted abruptly.

Neji heard a bark behind him. _Summoning dogs like Kakashi?_ he thought. He turned, and sure enough there was a huge black dog darting towards him, canine teeth bared. He saw a speck to his left and ducked before the eagle's beak could stab his eye. _Birds too?_

Kicking and forcing back the monstrosity of a dog, he saw Tenten hit the eagle square in its breast with shuriken. It tumbled out of his Byakugan's range and suddenly, a bear roared up in front of him and a squirrel clambered up his body to scratch his face.

_Is this a battle against_ _nature? _he wondered as he mindlessly stabbed the squirrel in its chest with a sharp kunai and dodged the bear's paw. _But are we the hunters, or are we the prey?_

Then he heard a familiar whinny and the images came rushing back. _Empty eyes..._and the picture stayed prominent even as, in the midst of battle, he tried to remember her once radiant smile. He drove another kunai into a mountain lion and jumped to avoid a snake. And still he could hear the enemy's summonings being called out.

It felt surreal. Was he really there, fighting animals that were summoned by bandit shinobi on a mountain? His body moved in fluid, rehearsed motions. The only evidence of movement was the gathering tension in his muscles. He needed to find that summoner.

But suddenly, abruptly, the dream ended with a sickening squelch. He barely registered Tenten's scream, only stared at the x-ray image of his Byakugan as the bandit pulled his sharp saber, now slick with blood, out of Lee's chest. And, oh god, this was happening. It was real; he was leading them to their deaths. What happened now could not be reversed. The dream was endless. The Green Beast fell, out of sight among the hordes of animals.

It was the first time one of his teammates had actually fallen in battle. And a member of his very own Team Gai, no less.

Lee...wasn't he indestructible? How could he be felled by just one blow? Everything that Lee had ever lived for, the past sixteen years, was gone in less than three seconds because he had failed to dodge just one out of thousands of weapons that had come lunging after him. It wasn't fair. But _life _wasn't fair, after all.

And when had he been tricked into thinking so ideally? A voice at the back of his mind answered with the name of the person he had come to love. But didn't he remind himself everyday, as a shinobi, that this was reality? That this sort of thing could ha –

The trance of shock was shattered by a great force ramming into him. He heard the ferocious whinny as his body crashed onto the ground, and he felt an old wound reopen. But from a horse? He looked down and saw the arrow, wedged deep in his left shoulder. It was all going to hell. Everything right here, right now was going to hell, now that he had been forced out of his shock.

He felt that animalistic instinct surge within him. What was there to lose anyway? He pulled the arrow out immediately, barely feeling the pain, using it to impale that bear, whipping out a kunai to slice that fox, and suddenly he had launched into his Hakke Rokujuuyonshou.

His hands felt like lead but moved like water, again and again, forever again, speeding up, and again forevermore. The last 32 sent a pack of three dogs into what remained of the tent Lee had hidden behind. The horse who had rammed into him was long unconscious or dead with all its tenketsu sealed.

The summoner's voice was now pained, possibly from suffering an angry, vengeful, tear-filled barrage from Neji's very own weapons mistress. But he was still able to choke out, "Kuchiyose no jutsu," one last time, through bloodied lips, before falling motionlessly to the ground.

The hell intensified again.

Neji felt himself slipping away from consciousness as his joints stiffened with the cold and his muscles became taut. Only the gods of the heavens could have understood how tired he was – physically, mentally, and emotionally. And Lee. Yes, he could have, that damned fool. Yes, and there was another devilish-looking horse.

He could no longer stay on the offensive. He lifted his arms and tried to jump out of the way, still bracing for impact just in case.

It came with a ferocious whinny, slamming the breath out of him through his stomach. He was thrown, and suddenly he was flying through the air. He braced himself for impact once more, expecting it against the ground.

But this time, it never came. All he could feel was his body falling, and all he could see was the pure whiteness of the snow that was falling with him.

* * *

><p>Tenten woke up in a dark, damp cell. She was lying on the ground. She started to get up, wincing as a twinge of pain surged through her leg, only to drop back down as the chains binding her arms rattled and voices resonated throughout the hall.<p>

"Do you think I can release the jutsu yet?" a refined voice sounded.

"He's probably still up there searching," a gruff voice replied.

"I did tell you that my genjutsu could fool even the renowned Byakugan, didn't I?"

"Fortunately, you were right. The chakra-suppressing barrier I summoned around this place helped conceal us too. Don't take all the credit."

The footsteps were coming closer. Tenten shut her eyes as the first voice spoke again, "They put up a good fight, but I was able to get an arrow in the Hyuuga. The main loss was Haruki. No one else in our group could summon as well as him. But to think that just the illusion of a tattered camp would fool trained Konoha shinobi –"

"She's awake," the second voice cut him off.

There was silence other than the footsteps. The metal door of the cell opened and closed after the two men stepped in.

"Hey," the second, rougher voice sounded again next to her. Tenten opened her eyes and stared at him weakly but defiantly. He wore a cap with spiky brown hair peeking out the sides and a scar running down the left side of his face. The other had brown hair as well and a seemingly innocent face.

"Your arms must be cramped up, huh?" the man with the spiky hair asked, sitting on the ground a few feet away. Tenten thought sardonically to herself, _No_,_ really?_

He continued, "I'll let you stretch them." _Go to hell_, she replied in her mind. She licked her parched lips.

"Get some water for her," the same man ordered in his monologue. The other, with the untainted face, nodded and left. "I'm not one for intimidation," the scar-faced man said. "Neither from myself nor from the captive."

"Why are you doing this?" Tenten asked, ignoring his other words. She could feel blood running down her face, barely missing her eyes.

The man brushed off some dust that had settled on his arm. "I hold a grudge against the villages. Corrupt government, they all are. And everything else that comes with being a large village. You know, the typical bad guy resentment? There's a reason these excuses are so popular."

"You don't have to trap shinobi for that reason." Tenten took the cup of water that was handed to her and drank it slowly. It was refreshing and, somehow, it made her forget how dire her situation was.

"Why not? It doesn't matter to you anymore," Scar-face said, effectively ending the topic as Tenten stayed silent.

He sent his comrade to take the cup back to the kitchen, or wherever in this hellhole that it had come from. Then he said, "I'm going to unchain you. Don't try anything. Your broken leg will prevent you from escaping." His friend returned rather quickly and stood as a silent sentinel by the door, with a leash in his hand that was chained to a black dog. Scar-face got up and walked over to her.

Tenten heard the telltale slash of a chakra-infused katana and the chains breaking apart. She stretched her liberated arms and immediately went for her weapons holster, only to find that it was not there.

"Don't worry about it. We won't hurt you." Scar-face used his foot to gently push her over so that she was lying on her back. She winced at the pain in her leg. _Ah, that's right...one of the bears shook the tree I was in and threw me off. I remember now. That's why my leg hurts so much._ Another rush of pain surged through it.

_Lee..._

She willed the tears to dry. But, alas, she failed. They flowed down her face, mingling with the blood. She spat when some of the bitter solution reached her lips. The mix of liquids made its way to the dirt-covered floor.

It wasn't fair. He had worked so hard...what was his ninja motto? Never give up? He wanted to prove that hard work could surpass genius...she wondered if he had ever reached that goal. Gai-sensei would be displeased when they returned.

Hell, he would bawl his eyes out for days on end.

_Neji..._he would definitely mourn the death of their boisterous comrade as well. (The tears kept streaming down.) Those two had grown to become friends, although they still remained rivals, over the years. Neji greatly respected the spandex-loving man now, and Lee had returned the favor from the beginning.

And her? Lee had always been a strong boy with a kind heart. He inspired her to work harder in the face of adversity. When everything seemed hopeless...she would not lose hope.

_Because with hope comes something to fight for, something to believe in._ The memory of Gai's parting words during their first training session together resounded loudly in her head, reverberating off the walls of her mind, even though she had not paid much attention to them at that time.

The mysterious man took a step over her, avoiding the diluted blood on the floor, and crouched while adjusting his cap.

"This will be quick and painless. I promise." The chained black dog barked as he said the words.

_Lee...Neji..._

_I...I still have something to fight for. Something to believe in._

She could feel the beating of her heart against an invisible, impeding wall within her chest.

_Don't..._

He placed two fingers against her heart. He breathed deeply, his own heart racing to match hers.

She allowed herself a small smile as her hope strengthened.

_Don't they always say that love is endless?_

* * *

><p>Neji woke up shivering and partly under a thick bed of snow. He kicked out with his feet to clear the ice, feeling pain shoot through his left arm when he tried to balance himself on it. He remembered the arrow.<p>

With a grunt of exertion, he lifted himself off the ground with his right hand and stood up. The snow was still falling and blindingly white. He could not see the ground a few meters from where he was standing.

Activating his Byakugan, Neji scanned the mountaintop. There was nothing except for two isolated pine trees scattered across the plateau. The camp was an illusion and a trap, then. They must have taken Lee's body...and _her_, he concluded in miserable defeat. _Damn, this mission was destined for hell. I don't even know where they could possibly be._

He examined his shoulder. No...there was no way he could find the enemies _and _defeat them with that kind of injury. His breathing was hoarse; he scrunched over when another surge of pain almost caused him to black out.

Using his doujutsu and gripping his left arm, he slowly recovered and navigated his way several meters through the snowstorm, which was lessening in intensity. Pain rippled through his body and almost blinded him as he stumbled through the deep layers of snow. He must have broken a few ribs, too.

He stopped at the edge of the cliff and saw a ray of sunlight peeking through the falling snow. After a few minutes, which could have amounted to an hour for all he knew and in which he endured the pain of his arm, the snow stopped falling almost completely. His arm became numb and the sun reflected brilliantly off the snow.

_Lee..._

The fact that he was gone forever was hard to believe. He wouldn't trust his thoughts until he returned to the village with Tenten, and until they were assigned a mission that lacked a green ball of youth jumping excitedly around them as they left Konoha –

_And when had he been tricked into thinking so ideally?_

_...Tenten._

That's right. But perhaps that moment between them yesterday (or was it already the day before?) was worth risking everything for.

Maybe...maybe it really was better to have it and be broken later than not at all.

He thought back to their conversation on the first night of the mission. What had he said?_ "A dream always seems far off, but it's just waiting to become a reality."_ At that time, he hadn't known what his true goal was. But, he realized, it had already been achieved.

_Because they were there, still are there, lost, together, disjointed, united, separated, in what others call isolation but what they call loneliness._

_'I-'_

He finished the forsaken sentence in his mind. He was just disappointed that she would never hear him say it out loud.

But, of course, she knew. _You don't have to say anything to prove it. I know._ Words weren't always required to convey messages when it came to them.

Now, he detected the lone pine tree that was next to him. He reached an arm out to touch its needles. He could smell the fresh odor that emanated from it and he tasted some lingering snow on his tongue. Then as he watched the sky he saw a white bird soar through the air with a leaf in its mouth. It chirped loudly and clearly in the bright sunlight.

_Yes. I..._

He felt his heart beating against the chill of the mountain wind.

**FIN**


End file.
